Team Liquid advance to lower bracket semifinals at ESL One Bangkok 2024 Playoffs

Image: ESL

After a poor start to the tournament, Team Liquid have bounced back to lock in at least a Top 4 finish.

Only four Dota 2 teams remain standing at ESL One Bangkok 2024 with the conclusion of the second day of the Playoffs on Friday (December 13). The day started in the first round of the lower bracket, where Team Liquid and Team Spirit knocked out Shopify Rebellion and Nigma Galaxy. Liquid then defeated Team Falcons in the first lower bracket quarterfinals match to close out the day.

With the day's results, Liquid have guaranteed themselves at least a fourth place finish as well as $85,000 in winnings. Meanwhile, Falcons bow out of ESL One Bangkok 2024 in a respectable 5th-6th place and with $57,500 in consolation. Shopify Rebellion and Nigma Galaxy also exit the tournament in 7th-8th place and will take home $47,500 for their efforts. 

Here's how all the action in day two of the ESL One Bangkok 2024 Playoffs went down:

Liquid advance to the lower bracket semifinals

Lower bracket round 1

Shopify Rebellion0-2Team Liquid

Liquid started the day strong with an easy 31-minute win versus Shopify Rebellion behind an excellent performance from Micke “miCKe” Vu's Weaver, who had 13 kills and nine assists on just one death to pace his team's 34-11 kill lead. Michał “Nisha” Jankowski on Ember Spirit also pitched in with eight kills and 17 assists on one death.

Shopify Rebellion put up a better fight in game two, as Enzo “Timado” Gianoli on Morphling and Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer on Earth Spirit made good use of their mid game power spikes to put their team in position to equalise the series. However, Liquid managed to score multiple key pickoffs that slowed down Shopify Rebellion's momentum and give them the lead heading into the late game. With miCKe's Drow Ranger and Nisha's Invoker dishing out tons of damage from long range, and Jonáš “SabeRLighT-” Volek's Primal Beast wreaking havoc on Shopify Rebellion's lines, Liquid sealed the 2-0 series sweep after 46 minutes of action.

Liquid could not rest on their laurels, however, as they still had a second elimination match to play against Falcons in the lower bracket quarterfinals at the end of the day. 

Team Spirit2-0Nigma Galaxy

The second series of the day was another one-sided sweep, this time with Spirit taking down Nigma Galaxy with relative ease. Game one saw Alan “Satanic” Gallyamov on Medusa and Denis “Larl” Sigitov on Storm Spirit shine as Spirit took their opening win in 33 minutes. Satanic paced his team's 21-9 kill lead with a clean five kills and eight assists while Larl had eight kills and nine assists on two deaths.

Nigma Galaxy put up a better fight in game two behind Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan's Storm Spirit, who won his lane versus Larl's Tiny and proceeded to set up multiple ganks all throughout the early game. However, a well-placed Observer Ward by Spirit allowed them to catch Nigma Galaxy unawares in their bottom lane jungle and turn the tide in their favour. Despite Nigma Galaxy's best efforts to mount a comeback, Spirit simply snowballed from there to secure the 2-0 series sweep after 38 minutes of action.

Satanic on Templar Assassin led the way for Spirit in the closeout game, racking up seven kills and five assists on two deaths. Larl also had five kills and 10 assists on two deaths. Meanwhile, SumaiL put up a valiant effort with seven kills and eight assists on just one death in the loss for Nigma Galaxy.

Lower bracket quarterfinals

Team Falcons1-2Team Liquid

The final match of the day between Liquid and Falcons opened with a banger, much to the delight of the crowd in the arena who had to sit through back-to-back sweeps. Liquid drafted a fast-paced lineup headlined by miCKe on Templar Assassin, Nisha on Earth Spirit, and SaberLight on an offlane Undying to counter Falcons' late game-oriented draft featuring Oliver “Skiter” Lepko on Medusa, Stanislav “Malr1ne” Potorak on a mid Earthshaker, and Ammar “ATF” Assaf on an offlane Viper.

Both teams were happy to trade blow after blow through the early to mid stages of the game, though Liquid's high-tempo lineup came away with the advantage heading into the late game. However, Falcons won a massive teamfight around the 54-minute mark that ground Liquid's momentum to a halt just as their trio of cores fully came online. Liquid put up a stubborn defense despite being on the backfoot, but Falcons were able to outmaneuver their opponents and destroy their Ancient to take the win after a 69-minute thriller.

Hungry for revenge in game two, Liquid once again took advantage of a slow Falcons draft with another fast-paced lineup with miCKe on Monkey King, Nisha on Tiny, and SaberLight on Primal Beast. Nisha played a perfect game, with his explosive initiations practically winning Liquid the teamfights even before his teammates could join in. After a 31-minute drubbing, Falcons had enough and called GG to send the series to a decider.

Nisha finished game two with a perfect eight-kill, 21-assists stat line to fuel Liquid's 37-9 kill lead. SaberLight also had a game-high 12 kills and 19 assists on two deaths while miCKe added nine kills and 15 assists on just one death.

This series started with a banger and ended with an even better one. Both teams drafted tanky, hard-hitting lineups in the decider, with Liquid going with Morphling for miCKe, Earth Spirit for Nisha, and Primal Beast for SaberLight while Falcons went with a carry Earthshaker for skiter, Timbersaw for Malr1ne, and Bristleback for ATF.

Falcons were in full control early on as Malr1ne handily won his lane and dominated the early clashes. However, Liquid managed to turn things around once miCKe's Morphling got Aghanim's Scepter and started using Morph to copy the enemy Earthshaker, turning Falcons' heavy firepower against them. But as the game wore on, Falcons' tri-core started to grow too tanky for even miCKe to burst down, forcing the game to a stalemate as the clock ticked past the one hour mark.

With the game devolving into chaotic teamfights that lasted for multiple minutes at a time, Falcons managed to claw their way back into the game by outmaneuvering Liquid with their lineup's superior mobility to get a two-lane barracks advantage. But once Liquid finally found the perfect initiation, they forced crucial buybacks on the side of Falcons that spiraled into the latter conceding more and more ground. One final clash at Falcons' base would finally end the game as Liquid outlasted everything their opponents could throw their way and won a thrilling base race after a 77-minute thriller.

MiCKe racked up 17 kills and 12 assists on four deaths to help Liquid close out the series while Nisha added 11 kills and 24 assists on seven deaths. Malr1ne had 15 kills and 17 assists on seven deaths while ATF had 12 kills and 10 assists on six deaths in the loss.

Day three of the ESL One Bangkok Playoffs will open with the second lower bracket quarterfinals match between Spirit and AVULUS, followed by the upper bracket finals between BetBoom Team and PARIVISION. The penultimate day of the tournament will then close with the lower bracket semifinals between Liquid and the winner of the Spirit-AVULUS match. 

ESL One Bangkok 2024 will be hosted from December 9 to 15 and is split into two distinct stages: the Group Stage, running from December 9 to 11, and the Playoffs, running from December 13 to 15. The Group Stage will only be broadcasted online, but the Playoffs will be hosted in front of a live audience in Bangkok's Royal Paragon Hall.

For everything you need to know about ESL One Bangkok 2024, check here.

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